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newish Press
Snow pictures see pages 10 and 11
Serving Nebraska and Iowa Since 1920
22 TEVET, 5753 Fflday. January IS. 1992
Vol. UX No. 16 Omaha
Vandals strike synagogues in Montreal
New fund helps students buy books, supplies By Claudia Sherman, public relation! director, The Foundation An educational fund in memory of Al Nepomnick has been created to help pay the college expenses of Jewish students from single-parent families from the Omaha metropolitan area. The fund is meant to help jjay for their textbooks, laboratory fees and other equipment for students who have demonstrated financial need. Mr. Nepomnick died Nov. 5. The Albert M. and Jeanette T. Nepomnick Educational Fund was established by Mrs. Nepomnick, who said that Mr. Nepomnick felt "very strongly that everyone should receive the benefit of a good college educal tton." \ "Single parent families have an especially rough time," Mrs. Nepomnick said. "We have a granddaughter attending the University of Delaware, and we're aware of the costs involved .in flnanc-
ing a college education by a single parent." Yale Richards, legal counsel for the Fund, said the Nepomnick family felt the funds would provide for textbooks and other equipment because a number of other scholarships offer assistance for tuition and similar fees. Born in 1925, Mr. Nepomnick lived in Omaha all his life. He became president and part-owner of Westside Supply Company, a wholesale plumbing, heating and air conditioning distributor. A longtime member" of Temple Israel, Mr. Nepomnick had served on the temple's board of trustees and
Building anti Grounds Committee. He also served on the Building and Grounds Committee of the Jewish Community Center for many years. In addition to his wife, Mr. Nepomnick is survived by his two daughters,, Ronna Zien of Milwaukee and Diane Nepomnick of Dallas; son Steven (and his wife Susan) of Dallas; four grandchildren, Stefani, Emily and Daniel Zien and Lindsey Nepomnick; and two sisters: Harriet Marko of Omaha and Ruth Wolpa of Houston, Texas. The Nepomnick Educational Fund will be administered by The Foundation of the Jewish Federation of Omaha. A committee (consisting of Jeanette NepomnicTi, Yale Richards and Robert Epstein) will make recom-. mendations concerning scholarship grants. To contribute to the Fund, contact Sheldon Bernstein, endowment director of The Foundation, at 334-8200.
1993 UJA/Federation Campaign:
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hate mail to assaults, although Quebec has experienced fewer such incidents than several other Canadian provinces. In Toronto, anti-Semitic slogans were painted onto three synagogues last
"We should not shake our heads at what is happening and think it cannot happen here." summer and a Jewish cemetery was defaced with red swastikas. Schneiderman and others pointed to a possible connection between the vandalism here and.the rise of neo-Nazi violence in Europe. According, to Rabbi Sidney Shohan of B'nai Brith, the recent vandalism events "confirm the dire warnings" about'the increase of hate crimes in Canada. "We should not shake
Jews installed in Congress
Scholarship deadline Applications are due Semester at Sea program March 12 for awards from at the time of his death. A 1982 graduate of the Briice M. Fellman Charitable Foundation Westside-High School, Trust. Bruce was also active in Each jrear the founda- BBYO and served as tion awards scholarships president, vice president, to college students on the secretary and treasurer of basis of financial need. Chaim Weizmann AZA. Business and trade-school According to Howard students are also elegible Kooper, a trustee of the for the awards. foundation, "the annual The foundation was awarding of these scholestablished in memory of Bruce M. Fellinan; a son arships is the most approof Tom and Darlynn priate way of honoring Fellman. Bruce was a stu- .^Bruce's memory." For applications, call dent at George Washington University in Wash- Mn Kooper at 392-idOt).. ington, D.C. and was par- - Other trustees are ticipating in the Uni- Darlynn Fellmoh and versity of Pittsburgh's Terri SchraKer.
By Bram D. Eisenthal MONTREAL (JTA) — Seven synagogues in "this French-language city were defaced recently in the worst-ever rash of anti-Semitism here. Vandals painted red swastikas On all the synagogues and scrawled "Juden raus" (Jews out) — the notorious slogan used by the Gestapo in World War II — on one of them. All seven incidents, which were spread throughout the city, occurred within a span of 24 hours. The defacements were the first in the province of Quebec since a Jewish cemetery in the city of Sherbrooke was vandalized in 1991. This is the worst act of racism in terms of magnitude and scope ever," said Jonathan Schneiderman, spokesman for B'nai Brith's League for Human Rights here. B'nai Brith has been concerned with a rise in anti-Semitic incidents in Montreal over the last two years, ranging from
By Deborah Kalb States News Service WASHINGTON (JTA) — Three new Jewish sen• ators and 11 new Jewish representatives were' sworn into the U.S. Congress on Tuesday, bringing the total number of Jews in tlie Senate to an all-time high of 10, Two of the three new Jewish senators in the 103rd Congress are Dem-
ocratic women from California, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein. The third was Sen. Russell Feingold of Wisconsin. Both California and Wisconsin now have two Jewish senators. The House of Representatives includes 33 Jewish members, the same number as in the previous Congress. Eleven, new Jewish members
were sworn in; David'Levy of New York, is the only Republican of the group. "The House now includes five Jewish Republicans, 27 Jewish Democrats, and one Jewish independent, Bemie Sanders of Vermont. Of the 10 Jews now serving in the Senate, only one, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, is a Republican.
Volunteers work at homeless shelter Eighteeq members ol Beth El Synagogue arc helping to make liCe more comfortable for the homeless population of Omaha. Brought together by Uie synagogue's Women's League, the volunteers work at the Sienna House, a shelter for women, . and at tKe St. Francis House, a shelter for men and soup kitchen. This week, volunteers will go to Siunna House to cook a J«wi*h-style dinner and serve It to residents. "We're going to mak^ flu ...i;i...A.,| Jewish ri 11 II
w| kugel.
Volunteer Hanna DeBruIn Mrapea i meal at St Francia House. where we don't have to DeBruin. Mr. DeBruin is worry about Where our executive director of the next meal is Koing to synagogue. Vohinteera who will come from," she said. "These people need the work monthly at the St. basica, food and shelter, Francis house Include Dora »nd l.t-n Sticfren, mill if wi> run bi>ti) rhtinut*
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our heads at what is happening in Germany and think it cannot happen here," said Shohan. Michael Crelinsten, executive director of Canadian Jewish Congress' Quebec region, said the vandalism likely "has something t^ do with neoNazis." "It's a particularly poignant event in a city like Montreal, with its large Holocaust survivor community," he said. Zev Mestel, executive director of the Beth Ora synagogue in the St. Laurent section of Montreal, said he was dissatisfied with the response he received from city p6lice when he reported the vandalism at his synagogue. • "The police shouldn't have treated it as idle graffiti," Mestel said. "We're used to swastikas, but when they start using terminology used in Nazi Germany, it's a different ball game^ especially with what's going on in Germany now with skinheads." .
Anti-Semitism around the worid Anti-Semitic acts are currently being reported from cities and communities around the world. In France recently, synagogues in Strasbourg and a suburb of Paris were vandalized. Such reports from Germany and eastern Europe have become increasingly common. In the United States, anti-Jewish acts ar rarer. Many America Jews say they eXper ence' no anti-Semrtis ntall. For more on these sto-" rieM, t^m to pages 6 and 7.